


Grounds for Divorce

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week Two: AU [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Coffeeshop AU, Fluff and Humor, Found Family, Friendship, Gen, Podfic Welcome, plagg and tikki being very overdramatic, there is a lot more of plagg being a drama queen, there is only technically divorce in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-08-23 09:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20240362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: The rain's coming down a lot heavier than he'd expected, and the nearby cafe looks warm and inviting.And crowded, Adrien realises seconds after slipping in.  It looks like everyone that's passed by has had the same idea to take refuge here.  He's honestly pretty sure this is a fire code violation.But he relaxes a little more in the warmth that envelops him as he steps away from the door, and although it takes a moment for him to adjust to the volume of chatter it's nice to hear people sounding so relaxed and happy.  He'd have understood if more of them were irritable from the sudden downpour.He can't help gradually tensing up again, though.  This is a lot of people in a very small space.  He isn't quite willing to bolt back into the rain just yet, but it's a close thing."Hey!" Someone calls, ringing out sharply over the noise of the crowd, and Adrien glances around for a moment before deciding it must have been directed at someone else.





	Grounds for Divorce

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'coffeeshop au' for adrienaugreste 2k19 and this is where i have to admit i have read maybe one coffeeshop au in my life, i literally went to a coffeeshop before editing this 
> 
> thank you shinobicyrus for the beta!

The rain's coming down a lot heavier than he'd expected, and the nearby cafe looks warm and inviting.

And _ crowded_, Adrien realises seconds after slipping in. It looks like everyone that's passed by has had the same idea to take refuge here. He's honestly pretty sure this is a fire code violation. 

But he relaxes a little more in the warmth that envelops him as he steps away from the door, and although it takes a moment for him to adjust to the volume of chatter it's nice to hear people sounding so relaxed and happy. He'd have understood if more of them were irritable from the sudden downpour.

He can't help gradually tensing up again, though. This is a _ lot _ of people in a very small space. He isn't quite willing to bolt back into the rain just yet, but it's a close thing.

"Hey!" someone calls, ringing out sharply over the noise of the crowd, and Adrien glances around for a moment before deciding it must have been directed at someone else. 

"Hey, sunshine!" the same voice calls again a minute later, and this time when Adrien stops to scan the room he sees someone waving wildly from the window booth. 

He tilts his head, intrigued, and points at himself. 

The girl nods, determined, her lips curling in an oddly secretive smile as she glances at her friend beside her, and shouts over the crowd again. "Come join us!"

Adrien doesn't really see any reason _ not _ to, so he snakes his way through the press of people only to squeeze in at their table. 

"Hey," another new person greets him, sliding over to make room. "I'm Nino, this is Marinette and Alya. Nice to meet you, dude, you looked like you needed an escape."

"Adrien," he says, blinking back at him with interest. "Nice to meet, uh, all of you?"

"Want coffee?" Alya says brightly. "We know the owners, we can still flag them over pretty easily."

"Y-yeah, that'd be great," Adrien says, brightening quickly. "You know the owners?"

"One of them is Marinette's godmother, and we kind of ended up meeting the rest through her and Plagg." Alya climbs to her feet, leaning heavily on Nino's shoulder, and shouts over the noise of the cafe again. "Hey, Trixx!"

There's no answer at first, then a red-headed woman comes barrelling through the crowd to slide into their already overcrowded bench seat, squashing everyone else up against the window. Nino sighs in a way that makes Adrien think this might be normal.

The new woman's employee nametag also says ‘Nooroo,’ for some reason, instead of Trixx.

"Alya, runts," she greets fondly, and confusing nametag aside Adrien guesses that she's not Marinette's godmother. "What d'you want?"

Alya drops back into her seat, pushing Nino so far against the window that he has to slither partly out from behind the table and brace himself against the wall. He gives Alya a look that she entirely misses but that makes Adrien and Marinette both start giggling. 

"Hey, Adrien, what _ do _ you want?" Alya asks, peering around Marinette at him.

He flushes. "Um, I don't know what they serve, exactly?"

"Let me surprise him," Trixx begs Alya immediately, eyes going huge and liquid. "Come on, let me surprise him!"

"You know that Tikki said you aren't allowed to do that any more," Marinette says, reaching out and dragging a menu over to where Adrien can see it. "And they have all kinds of tea and coffee, some pastries, and I'd really recommend staying away from anything that says it's recommended by Plagg."

Adrien blinks at her. "Um. Why?"

"How's your caffeine tolerance?" Nino asks, which doesn't strike Adrien as a real answer until he actually looks at the menu. Everything listed with Plagg's name anywhere near it has espresso in it. Some of them have _ several _espressos.

He notes that besides Tikki, who is apparently the other owner and therefore has to be Marinette's godmother, the names of various other employees turn up repeatedly in the manual as well. He recognises Trixx, and there's also a Wayzz and a Pollen that reoccur several times, and a single mention of someone named Duusu.

The menu also says _established 1814, _which seems... unlikely, but Adrien isn't going to question that in front of an employee.

"I'm okay with being surprised," he says finally, blinking between the menu and Trixx. "That sounds fun."

"_Yesss_," Trixx cries happily, sliding back out of the booth, and Adrien feels a brief pang of alarm at the unfettered fierce delight in her voice. "At last, another victim!"

"_Behave_!" Alya shouts after her friend's vanishing back.

"_Never_," comes a fading cry in response.

Trying the shake the premonition that he might have made a terrible mistake, Adrien is looking over the menu again, distracted. He'd ducked inside in a hurry to avoid the rain- he hadn't observed all that many details first. "Wait, why is this place called Grounds for Divorce?"

The rest of the table groans.

"What?" Adrien asks, looking around in distress and worrying that he's said something he shouldn't have. "I didn't mean to be rude, you don't have to tell me."

Marinette waves that away. "No, no, that's half the reason they keep the name. They _ want _people to be curious about it. Tikki- my godmother- and Plagg, they're the owners, they got divorced over an argument about how to run the place."

Adrien starts to say something and stops, puzzled.

"They were very dramatic about it," Marinette assures him, rolling her eyes. "There were tears."

"Not from Tikki there weren't," Alya says dryly. "Or from Trixx. I think there were offers of popcorn and tickets from Trixx, actually. I think Trixx still owes me a refund on those."

"They're running the cafe together now though?" Adrien tries, more confused than ever.

"When we say they were very dramatic about it-" Nino starts, and then startles badly as Trixx reappears with a smirking, dark-haired man lurking behind her.

"Ye-es?" the man says, cupping one hand to his ear and drawing out his words. "Yeah, runt? What were you gonna say about it, exactly?"

Marinette picks up a napkin from the centre of the table, rapidly folds it into a plane, and throws it at him. "That you were an overdramatic little brat about it."

"I didn't think she'd _ sign _ the damn papers," Plagg says, catching the paper plane and throwing it at Adrien, grinning when Adrien snatches it out of the air. "Don't see you calling _ her _ dramatic over it."

Marinette's "You went to _court_!" overlaps with Alya's, "Oh, we absolutely do."

"They are both bad losers, so they are technically _ still _ divorced," Trixx says brightly. "So that's why the cafe is called that."

Adrien gestures vaguely around them. "But... you don't seem to disagree now?"

Plagg shrugs. "Eh, we never really disagreed on the big stuff to begin with, only the little things."

Adrien blinks, absently unfolding and re-folding Marinette's paper plane. "Then why did you _ do _ all of that?"

"Because we're both really stubborn and bad at backing down," a new voice says, and Adrien looks up to see a kind-looking woman who smiles at him as soon as they make eye contact. "Hello, there, I see the kids are picking up strays again."

Plagg snickers. "I dunno why you still call it that, they all end up staying." 

"Because strays end up getting _ adopted_, Plagg."

"Is anyone else concerned that all three of them are here?" Nino asks the table at large. "At once? When it's this busy? Anyone, or is it just me?"

"Well _ now _ I am," Marinette says, folding another paper plane and handing it to Adrien, who takes it with bemusement. She's folded it differently than the first one; he studies it, then takes a napkin of his own and tries to imitate what she's done. "Why _ are _ you all here?"

"Because she hasn't let me surprise anyone with a drink since Nino," Plagg says.

"Because I haven't trusted him with a surprise drink since Nino," Tikki says.

"Because I like chaos!" Trixx says brightly and slams a tray full of drinks on the table. Two of them are relatively normal looking coffee drinks, one is tea (which Nino swipes off the tray so fast that Adrien is suddenly very worried about whatever _ his _ surprise drink had been), and one is a pink frothy monstrosity that has to be his by process of elimination.

Also, all three employees are still standing by their table expectantly. There's a line forming at the counter and the harried man Adrien can just barely see keeps shooting them annoyed glances.

He reaches for the drink and Trixx and Plagg visibly brighten, while Tikki only sighs.

He pulls his hand back and stifles a laugh when Plagg's brows furrow and Trixx's face falls. In contrast, Tikki's lips twitch, only for her to break into a full smile when Adrien reaches for the drink again.

"This is _ really good_," he says moments later, eyes wide. "What is this?"

"Raspberry caramel macchiato," Plagg and Trixx say together.

Tikki groans as heads swivel. "Which wasn't on our menu, but I suspect it's going to have to be now."

Plagg crosses his arms and raises his voice. "Nah, I'm only makin' it for people I like."

There's a lot of disappointed grumbling and people turning away again.

"He doesn't like anyone and all the regulars know it," Trixx tells them in a stage whisper.

Nino raises his hand. "He likes us." 

"_You_ lot are an exception." Plagg leans against the wall, inconveniencing several nearby people, as Trixx darts off again without a goodbye. Nobody bats an eye at this so Adrien assumes it's normal behaviour for them. "You're a bunch of pests I can’t get rid of. Like fleas. Or conspiracy theorists.”

"You called Mom once 'cause I hadn't been here in a week," Nino says. "You _sent_ _Wayzz over_ when she didn't answer."

Plagg bristles defensively. "Yeah well something coulda happened, not like you normally miss a chance to come be your annoying selves at me."

"He cares," Marinette assures Adrien, gently sliding him a third paper plane with yet another different design. Moments later Alya's straw wrapper hits her in the forehead. "He just doesn't want to admit it."

Plagg lingers and chats with them for another ten minutes, before the line builds up enough that the annoyed man at the register shouts him back to the counter. 

Alya asks Adrien later, when the rain has slowed to a drizzle and most of the crowd has thinned out, "So, are we gonna be seeing you here again?" 

"Yeah," Adrien says, enthusiastically. All of their drinks are long gone (Plagg had brought Adrien a second one some time ago, to much teasing from the rest of the table) and he's guiltily recalled that he was supposed to be home for dinner tonight. No one's called or texted him, though, so Father probably changed his mind at the last minute again anyway. "I can't believe I'd never been in here before." 

Marinette shrugs and flicks another paper plane into the pile in front of them both. He'd started getting good enough at replicating hers to toss them back, occasionally finding a kind he knows and she doesn't. "The place is like that sometimes. Hard to find until you need to."

Grounds for Divorce is centrally located on a relatively busy street, and even now there's a healthy amount of people in it, so he's not sure what she means by that. 

He'll have a chance to find out- she stuffs one last paper plane into his pocket when they finally leave, and when he gets home and takes it out to inspect he finds a phone number written on it.

No one else is at home, and they didn't bother to leave a note, so he goes up to his room and programs her number into his phone right away. 

He types out a message and only hesitates once before pressing send.

_ ‘Hey Marinette, it's Adrien, I was wondering…’ _

**Author's Note:**

> look i was trying to pun on 'grounds for,' and then cy said 'grounds for DIVORCE,' and uh. well. 
> 
> ...i feel like its important to know that the _absolute shortest_ amount of time plagg and tikki could have dragged that divorce out over is a month, and three to six months is far more likely. they were WAY overdramatic.


End file.
